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albums that have a reputation for being under-rated or overlooked, but are otherwise perfectly rated and/or not really up to par anyway.

* MBV - Isn't Anything: overshadowed by Loveless and rightfully so: Everything this album does, Loveless perfects; the surrounding EPs sound much more confident as well.

* JAMC - Automatic: fairly recently considered under-rated as initial reviews weren't great, but its negative reputation is mostly deserved: the drum machines sound like shit and it largely sounds like a slightly noisier take on ZZ Top and Billy Idol. S&D or Munki are better nominees for being under-rated.

* Nirvana: In Utero - Under-rated is a bit of a strong classification, though there seems to be a weird outlook among Nirvana fans that it's some sort of overlooked album (because it went to #1 and sold 8 million albums vs Nevermind's 30 million?)

I found Loveless first and had similar doubts about Isn't Anything, but I don't think of it as a weak predecessor. Yes there's an audible evolution to their sound but I think the lyrical content and menace of IA is a different beast to the fuzzy embrace of Loveless.

it is different, though I guess it's not just weak compared to Loveless, I think it's weak compared to the EPs too. If I didn't know better, I would've assumed it was recorded before those EPs as it sounds like a band feeling their way around trying to see what work whereas the EPs sound more fully formed.

So it's under-rated to the extent that it's eclipsed by Loveless (as is most of Shoegaze), but I think there's also a bit of tendency to oversell the album as well.